Improvement in making brass kettles



- viate these evils, Hiram XV. Hayden invented FREDERICK J. SEYBIIOUR, OF

VVATERBURY, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAKING BRASS KETTLES.

Specification .forming part of Ilctters Patent No. RLLSS?, dated May 13, 1854i.

o all whom it 771,603/ concern:

Be itknown th at I, FREDERICK J. SEYMOUR, of Vaterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented and made a new and useful Improvement in Means for Making Brass Kettles and Similar Articles; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, wherein- Figure 1 is a plan of the lower die, and Fig. 2 is an elevation of the two dies (upper and lower) together.

rIhe other figures are separately referred to, and similar marks of reference indicate the same parts.

In the manufacture of brass kettles or similar articles great difficulty has heretofore been experienced in stamping ory forming the same from a fiat disk of metal, because the metal is apt to wrinkle in the dies, and turning a flat disk up into nearly a cylindrical shape is attended with very great strain on the metal. To accomplish this purpose/Encinas Hollister obtained a patent on the 9th day of May, 1848, for a series of male dies or forces that commenced by forming the top part of the kettle in the female die, and then gradually adding the smaller forces or dies to drive the kettle down into the die. In so doing he had constantly to force the cylindrical. kettle into a smaller space, requiring alarge expenditure of power, which, acting ou the bottom, tended to drive the same out, and thereby stretched the metal very thin on the bottom and edges, where there was the most wear, and the practical result was that about twenty per cent. of the kettles commenced were rendered useless before completion, and those that were finished up were ot' a very inferior quality. To 0ba machine and patented the same December 16, 1851, for rolling or spinning7 up the kettles into shape. This was a very great improvement a-nd made a very much better article; but it is rather slow in its practical operation, and, besides this, the imperfections of the metal in mixing, casting, and rolling the same are of such a character that under the successive rolling operations to which said metal is subjected these imperfections are spread and extended until they work through the sheet to the surface and produce alaw or crack. My invention therefore does not relate to the patents of said Hollister or Hayden in themselves, but consistsin a peculiar manner of causing dies to 'act on the metallic disk and bring it into nearly the form required for the kettle without straining, weakening, ormaking the metal thin on the bottom, and without the same being annealed so often as in Hollister or Haydens patents, and the nal operation of nishing the kettle, after the same has received its general form in my dies, is to be accomplished by spinning or rolling into shape by Haydeirs machinery or spun7 up by hand in a manner similar to lamps and other well-known articles of sheet metal.

In the drawings, c is the drop or upper part of any suitable press, and b is the bottom or bed plate. These parts are to be of any usual or desired construction and actuated by any competent power,

o is a female die of a shape corresponding with the bottom of the kettle to be formed and having iiaring sides.

d and c are rings which coincide with thedie o when placed thereon, as seen in Fig. 7 and the dies d andje are provided with steadypins 3 3 on their under sides, entering holes in the die next below, so that said dies are of a shape corresponding to that required for the blank kettle, Fig. 8, when ready for the final operation of spinning or rolling into theform ofthe finished kettle, Eig. 9. The male die` or force g is to be attached to the drop a of the press by the bolt 1, and is of a shape to iit the inside of the blank kettle, Fig. 8. This die g is also provided with a flange, f, through which tie-bolts 2 2 pass loosely and suspend a ring, 7L, and around these tie-bolts 2 strong helical springs are fitted to keep the ring down; but said springs allow the die g to descend within the female die after the ring h has rested on the female die e.

To commence operation on iiat disks or blanks, I attach the dies d and e to the ring h by long screws 4, as seen in Fig. 3, and unscrew the lower steady-pins 3 from the ringd. These rings d and e are now lifted with the force or male die y. A disk of metal is now to be laid on the die c, and the drop a brought down, which forms the metal into the shape shown in Fig. 4t, and in doing this it will be seen that the ring d takes the sheet of metal nearly simultaneously with the Vl'orce g and retains the same out nearly Hat, While the said force g draws the sheet under said ring in the act of forming the blank, Fig. 4L, and then the ilangef, taking the ring h, forces all the parts down tightly, smoothing out all wrinkles in the metal. In like manner, after the desired number of blanks, Fig. 4, are formed andannealed, I alter my dies so as to bring the blank, Fig. 4, into the shape of Fig. and for this purpose screw in the steady-pins 3, and place the ring d on the die c, and attach the die@ with shorter screws to the ring h. In this case the end of theforce g descends into the concavity of the blank, Fig. 4,when placed on the die d, and brings the same centrally. At the same time the ring c takes the-edges ofthe blank and holds the same While the force breaks the metal down and forces the blank into the die d, forming the next blank, Fig. 6, and in so doing it will be seen the bottom (as formed in Fig. 4) is not touched or any Way strained, but simply goes down with the force g. 'Ihe size of the kettle will determine hoW many rings Will be needed to form the female die, and the consequent number of operations and annealing required to bring the blank kettle into the shape shown in Fig. 8,' and in this last operation the ring h takes directly onto the top of the blank and holds the same out tlat while the force g completes the blank,ready to be rolled or spun up into the desired form, Fig. 9. By this inode of successively forming hollow articles by commencing to l'orin the bottom and then gradually drawing in the sides all strain on the bottom is avoided, the metal is not weakened by severe stretching and annealing, neither is it subjected to so much rolling or compression as to bring out any imperfections in the texture of the metal. The operations are performed very much quicker, the article produced is every way superior, and the number of kettles spoiled in the process of i'uanufaeturing is amere nothing.

It will be apparent that solid dies might be formed in the shapes shown in Figs. 3, 5, and 7, instead of the rings d elbeing used; but this would involve a larger stock of dies and be no better in operation.

Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

Forming brass kettles or similar articles from disks of metal by the successive operations hcrein set forth, commencing at the bottom and smaller part of said kettle, and shaping the same at once, and then gradually forming or drawing in the sides by means of dies, substantially in the manner and for the purposes specih'ed.

In Witness whereof I have hereunto set my signature this 15th day of April, 1856.

FREDK. J. SEYMOUR.

\Vitn esses:

L. W. Con, GALvIN H. CARTER. 

